U.S. moves to revoke citizenship of Mexican friar convicted of child abuse

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Mexican Capuchin Franciscan friar convicted in 2019 of sexually abusing minors while serving in Washington, D.C.

According to U.S. authorities, Urbano Vázquez Ortega, 53, obtained U.S. citizenship in 2017.

“Vázquez Ortega was convicted of multiple counts of second-degree child sexual abuse while employed as a priest at a Washington, D.C., church,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced in a press release.

“In 2019, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The United States filed a five-count complaint seeking to revoke his citizenship, alleging he committed these crimes before, during, and after his naturalization,” the text indicates.

Vázquez Ortega is one of 10 individuals facing the revocation of their citizenship after being convicted of various serious crimes, including the sexual abuse of minors, fraud, and drug trafficking.

4 charges of abuse in 2019

In August 2019, a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia found Vázquez Ortega guilty of four counts of child sexual abuse involving two minors at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Parish in northwest Washington, D.C., where he had been serving since 2014.

According to evidence presented during the trial, between April and May 2015, he molested a 13-year-old girl in a parish office.

Additionally, between June 2016 and August 2017, he abused another minor aged between 9 and 10 in various places on church grounds, according to the evidence.

A third adolescent also testified during the legal proceedings, stating that Vázquez Ortega kissed her in a church conference room.

Removed from ministry after first allegation

When the allegations came to light in 2018, the Archdiocese of Washington stated that this was the first allegation of sexual abuse received against Vázquez Ortega and that, “immediately upon learning of this serious allegation, the archdiocese immediately removed Father Vazquez from ministry and suspended his priestly faculties.”

In the same statement, the archdiocese reported that after reviewing the case, it determined that the then-pastor of the Sacred Heart Shrine, Friar Moisés Villalta, “failed to follow appropriate protocols related to reporting allegations of abuse to civil authorities and the Archdiocese of Washington” and for this reason, “has been removed as pastor.”

Additionally, the parish’s child protection coordinator was placed on administrative leave, according to the statement issued at the time.

In addition, a complaint was filed against Marcin Stanislaw Garbacz, 47, former Roman Catholic priest from Poland convicted of wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign country, crimes he committed as a priest and hid during the naturalization process.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.